DOVER — The School Board will submit this Friday a budget roughly $387,144 over the amount needed to meet the tax cap, but kept intact items such as full-day kindergarten with no fee and a 26-credit diploma with distinction at the high school.

The board voted 5-2 in favor of the budget request with board members Doris Grady and Ken Appel dissenting.

Numbers for tuition from Barrington and Nottingham students turned out a bit lower than anticipated, leaving about a $60,000 gap between where the board was last week after a special session held on the budget and where they adjourned their meeting Monday night.

Superintendent Jean Briggs Badger said the choice factor is working in favor of Barrington families who have Dover, Coe-Brown Northwood Academy and Oyster River Cooperative School District to choose from for their students.

Pointed out during the meeting was also the fact that as the tax cap for the city goes down, so, too, does the amount the district is able to charge for tuition.

Adding to the lower budget figure is also the retirement of Career Technical Center director James Amara and the loss of a cosmetology teacher at the rate of about $44,000.

While he was thanked for his retirement and savings to the school budget, Vice Chairwoman Amanda Russell said the savings found from that move as well as the loss of a cosmetology instructor was not intended for the board to then creatively fund other items.

“This is not to see what's saved and then add somewhere else,” she said.

While she expressed fear over a budget the City Council may not accept, Chairman Rocky D'Andrea also said that the state pushing retirement costs down to the local taxpayer level is something residents should be considering as well.

If it is decided the additional funds will not be covered, residents are essentially cutting down the entire base of the budget for the school district, he said.